Lima: Colonial Walking Tour & Larco Museum with Catacombs

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (8 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/18

Duration6h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · PT +2

PickupAt your hotel

The Catacombs Beneath San Francisco Hold 25,000 Remains — and That's Just the Start

You walk Lima's colonial streets, descend into the San Francisco Catacombs to see where thousands were buried, then spend the afternoon at the Larco Museum exploring 45,000 pre-Columbian artifacts in a mansion built atop a seventh-century pyramid. Hotel pickup, private guide, and lunch at the museum cafe are included, and the whole day fits into six hours without feeling compressed.

Step-by-step itinerary

Historic Lima and Larco Museum Tour

Visit San Martin Square
Explore Plaza de Armas
Tour Church and Convent of Saint Francis
Explore catacombs beneath convent
Visit Larco Museum and gardens
Enjoy lunch at museum cafe

The Experience

The San Francisco Convent sits in the middle of Lima's colonial heart, and underneath it are passages most visitors never see. You walk down into the catacombs — actual burial chambers from centuries past, arranged in patterns that feel both orderly and unsettling. Your guide explains the history as you move through, and then you're back on the street, walking toward the Plaza de Armas where the Presidential Palace and Cathedral face each other across the square. It's the kind of morning that makes you understand why people say Lima's center is a living museum.

The Larco Museum comes after lunch, and it's where the tour shifts from streets to objects. Built on top of a seventh-century pyramid, the mansion itself matters — the gardens are photographed more than some attractions are visited — but the collection inside is what stays with you. Forty-five thousand pieces of pre-Columbian art, pottery, textiles, and artifacts arranged so you're not just looking at old things but starting to see how people lived. The museum includes a room dedicated to erotic ceramics from ancient Peru, which your guide can skip if you're traveling with younger children, but most people find it one of the most human parts of the collection.

The whole thing runs six hours, which sounds tight but works because you're not rushing between distant sites. Everything is walkable or a short drive from everything else — the plazas, the convent, the museum. Your guide is licensed and local, which means they know which corners to linger on and which stories actually matter. Lunch is included at the museum cafe, surrounded by those gardens, so you're not hunting for food or losing time to logistics.

Hotel pickup happens from San Isidro, Miraflores, or Barranco — the main tourist districts — and the tour is private, meaning it's just you and whoever you're traveling with. A minimum of two people per booking, but that's it. The pace suits all fitness levels; you're walking but not hiking, and there are plenty of places to stand and listen.

What’s included

Professional licensed local guide.
hotel pickup and drop-off from San Isidro, Miraflores, or Barranco.
private vehicle transport throughout the day.
entry to the San Francisco Convent and Catacombs.
entry to the Larco Museum.
lunch at the museum cafe.
all taxes and fees.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Integrity Tourism

Is this one for you?Book this if you want Lima's essential history — colonial architecture, pre-Columbian artifacts, and the city's UNESCO sites — without arranging transport, tickets, or timing yourself. Six hours is enough to see the main pieces without the usual gaps between sites.